INTERESTING STUFF FROM AROUND THE WEB
- A marine biologist snorkeled with a great white shark, even touching it. She called it “magic.” Others call it risky behavior and tell you to please not try it. Story and video, Washington Post.
- An anomaly in our age of global warming, a deep region of the Pacific Ocean is actually cooling. It’s because of the very slow churn of the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt; the water in question was chilled during the Little Ice Age that lasted from the 1500’s to about 1840 AD. Popular Mechanics.
- Harbor porpoises take in some 4,300 calories a day without achieving the obesity that would floor human beings. That’s because they burn them off maintaining a high metabolic rate to survive in the frigid waters they live in. Science Daily News Feed.
- Spain, Mexico, Japan, and China are among countries where octopus farming is being envisioned. It might be good for calimari lovers but bad for the environment and the octopuses, scientists say. Science Daily.
- One effect of warming oceans brought on by climate change is that fish may get faster. Higher temperatures can make both the bodies and brains of cold-blooded fish work somewhat faster. The same presumably won’t be true for the warm-blooded birds and marine mammals that hunt them.